Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Ginger-Tahini Dressing

Why you’ll love this recipe 

Texture heaven: Baby potatoes are first parboiled until tender, then coated in olive oil and salt and roasted at a high temperature until they’re perfectly crispy and brown on the outside but still fluffy and tender on the inside. Then they’re drizzled with a luxuriously creamy sauce and topped with fresh scallions and crunchy peanuts on top. So many good textures combined in one dish! 

PS: If you want more fun yet easy ideas for tahini, you must try my Creamy Herbed Potato Salad and Tahini Pasta!

Easy but gourmet. The presentation on this dish is a 100 and the flavors feel gourmet. That said, it’s actually really easy to make. Plus, smushing potatoes is very therapeutic.

Flavor town. The rich, buttery, subtle sweetness of baby golden potatoes meets a slightly tangy, slightly sweet sauce that is brimming with the warm, peppery heat of fresh ginger and the nuttiness of toasted sesame oil. This mixture gets topped with the herbaceous flair of fresh mint and cilantro and the spiciness of chili peppers. Each bite is a party in your mouth!

Guaranteed to please. Whether you’ve got guests visiting, are hosting a little shindig, or just serving a family meal where you want to impress, this crispy smashed potato dish will wow all of your guests with its unique flavors and textures.

Looking for more fun potato recipes? Be sure to try my Ultimate Crispy Roasted Potatoes, Indian Aloo Gobi, or my creamy Scalloped Potatoes!

Tips for the perfect crispy smashed potatoes 

Size and color matter 

First, the type of potato matters. Size-wise, these are best with mini or baby-sized potatoes, or even peewee potatoes (if you want one-bite potatoes). 

I’ve made this dish with small-sized Yukon Gold potatoes, which are larger than the baby potatoes, and they were fine but not spectacular. They were harder to smash neatly and they didn’t get as crispy. 

Color-wise, these are best with baby golden potatoes, also known as baby yellow potatoes, baby Dutch yellow potatoes, mini golden creamer potatoes, two-bite honey gold potatoes, or petite gold potatoes. 

I’ve also made this dish with baby red potatoes (as you’ll see in one of the step-by-step photos) and they are definitely good, just not as good as the golden ones. Golden/yellow potatoes are less waxy and starchier than red potatoes. Translation: they get very crispy on the outside but stay fluffy and tender on the inside. 

Red potatoes, on the other hand, get perhaps even crispy on the outside but they don’t stay fluffy and tender on the inside. Translation: you don’t get the best of both worlds IMO. That said, this recipe is still great with baby red potatoes.

Summary: this recipe is the most incredible with baby or mini golden/yellow potatoes. 

Parboil, then roast

To get perfectly crispy potatoes that are still tender on the inside, you need to parboil your potatoes before roasting them. You parboil them whole, drain them, and then smash down on them and coat in oil/salt before roasting. 

If you don’t parboil them, the skin remains kind of tough and less able to absorb the oil into its nooks and crannies when roasting in the oven.  

Salt generously

Speaking of parboiling, when you boil the potatoes you want to boil them in very salty water. Much saltier than your pasta water. This is because as Molly Baz puts it in her article on how to boil potatoes, “potatoes are large, dense items. Salt has to penetrate a lot of mass in order to make it all the way through to the potatoes’ middles by the time they’re finished cooking.”

If you don’t salt your potato water, you end up with sad, bland potatoes. Even if you salt them before roasting, they still won’t be nearly as flavorful. And don’t worry, the vast majority of that salt in the potato water gets drained off when you drain the potatoes. 

Don’t crowd the pan 

This recipe uses two sheet pans instead of one because if you crowd potatoes too closely together in the oven, they will steam instead of roast. Say goodbye to that crispy brown skin! Here are the sheet pans I use (affiliate link).

Be generous with the oil

I’ve tried making crispy smashed potatoes with half the amount of oil (I know some of my readers are oil-conscious), but it just doesn’t work. They end up stuck to the pan and not nearly as crispy. Roasted potatoes need a generous amount of oil. It is what is! 

Don’t flip the potatoes 

For truly crispy exteriors and edges, don’t flip the potatoes while they’re roasting. They won’t burn, I promise! But since we’re using two pans, it’s helpful to rotate their positions/racks halfway through roasting. This is because most ovens are warmer either in the bottom or the top, so switching their location means each tray of potatoes gets even heat distribution.

Looking for more DELICIOUS potato recipes? Try my Indian-restaurant-style Saag Aloo or Aloo Gobi!

How to make this recipe 

Cover the potatoes with cold water, season very generously with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes until just fork tender. Drain the potatoes. 

Transfer the potatoes to two rimmed sheet pans. Using the bottom of a mug, measuring cup, or glass, smash down on them. Use a pastry brush or your hands to coat them in oil, flip and repeat. Season with salt and pepper. 

Roast the potatoes at 450ºF/232ºC for 30 minutes, rotating the location of the pans in the oven halfway through, until crispy and brown on the outside but tender on the inside. 

For the ginger-tahini sauce, add all the ingredients to a food processor.

Blend until smooth, creamy and thick but pourable. 

Transfer the roasted potatoes to a serving platter. Drizzle some of the sauce on top. 

Scatter the sliced scallions on top. Scatter the sliced chili peppers, mint/Thai basil and cilantro on top.

Add the roasted peanuts on top and serve with remaining sauce on the side for dipping.

Frequently Asked Questions

That’s all you need to know about these crispy smashed potatoes with ginger-tahini dressing. If you love the recipe, please be sure to rate and review it below and tag me with your remakes on Instagram!